Keep Holding On
by Coco Hiiragi
Summary: Feliciano is working really hard to face the economic crisis, and Ludwig is trying his best to keep his country strong as well. They can't meet, nor have time to talk, but that doesn't mean they forgot how much they care for the other one.


**Hi, guys! I had an idea yesterday as I listened to a song, so I wrote this little thing. Hope you like it! **

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The room was rather large, and bright, but it seemed a little bit too luxurious for an office. It had beautiful, and shiny marble floors, massive cristal windows that showed a wonderful view of the gardens, big dark wood bookcases, filled with books that seemed really old, were placed in the back, and a magnificent wooden desk was also placed in the middle of it all, packed with scattered papers. Behind it, on an equally charming chair, sat a man with brown, silky hair. He was working nonstop, and apparently, he was extremely worried, and slighly confused as he kept on checking numbers on his calculator, and sighing. He finally got up, and walked towards the window with a troubled look on his face.

It wasn't as if he had time to waste, but this could easily drive him crazy if he didn't take a break. Also, he was getting a bit sad working all alone in such a big room. It had been a good while since Feliciano had seen his german friend, they were both so incredibly busy. But it would be more accurate to say that the whole european union was busy as well. They were undergoing some serious hardships, and had no time for anything else than trying to save their frail economies.

In all honesty, the italian was in a pretty bad situation himself, and his brother was equally troubled; there was no way he could scape from his job to visit Ludwig. Not now, and probably not anytime soon. Not when his precious country was in such a crisis. He hated to see his people suffering, not to say that he couldn't leave his brother dealing with all that mess on his own.

But it was lonely, it seemed as if he had cut all communications with him, even Kiku had called worried once, or twice to see how he was doing. Suddenly he shaked his head, and reprimanded himself. The german was working so hard, he was also lending money to the ones who were almost in bankrupt, Italy included. So, Feliciano couldn't help but feel that once again he was bringing a lot of trouble to his friend. And for the very same reason, he had no right to complain, nor to interrupt him now.

He knew he needed to get through this, he was going to make it, and then he would be able to indulge himself, go visit Ludwig, take some time off…

Sighing he went back to his desk, and to his work. This was not going to break him down. Not a chance.

**oOoOoOoOo**

In a rather small, neatly organized, and delightfully uncluttered office, a tall, blond man was checking the last documents he had received that evening. It was like that every single day; he would get up even earlier than he was used to, after sleeping just a few hours, quickly finish the first things that needed to get done, which luckily didn't take him so long, since he was quite good at it, go get a coffee, and finally come back to a new bunch of reports to check, waiting for him on the desk.

But he wouldn't complain, just sit down again, revise the numbers on his mind, write some corrections, and send the documents back. Ludwig knew quite well what he needed to do when things got this bad, and there was no way he would let his country sink ever again, not even if he had to go on for days with a couple hour of sleep. Not say that his pride as a nation, and his beloved citizens weren't the only one concerning him. He was sure that if Germany wasn't doing good enough, the entire union would freak out. But even the stronger country had it's limits, and he worried about how longer this crisis would go on.

This kind of dark thoughts always came when the numbers weren't going as expected, specially if they were related to a certain country with a funny shape. He would look at the report, once, twice, and frown, so many red digits that he got an instant headache. It was obvious that they were trying, but it wasn't working as well as it should, and he wasn't even sure if he could talk his boss into helping him forever, nor did he thought he could ever take any money that his country actually needed.

But he would make it all over again, check the numbers until they looked better, write multiple advices, recommed efficent ways to save more money. Ludwig wanted to do everything in his hands to make it a bit easier for him. The italian certainly wasn't an idiot, but his economy was something even the german had a hard time trying to fix. And when he had something good enough, he would send it back, hoping that the next time it would be better.

Finally getting up, exhausted, he would go to his window, and look at the city as he whispered. " You can still make it, it's not something you can't do…" He would close his eyes, wishing that he could hear his voice. "I'm far away, but as much as I can, as much as possible… I'll help you, so please, please, don't let this defeat you…"

And that was definitely all the motivation that he needed, because no matter what, he had to keep on going, he was not letting anyone fall, specially him. "Just a little more" he would say out loud, as he headed back to his desk.

**oOoOoOoOo**

Feliciano got called to his boss's office first thing the next morning. He felt sick, and nervous, hardly ever did he get good news from these meeting. He knocked the door, entered the room, and proceeded to sit down.

Susprisingly, when he looked at the other man, he encountered a relieved smile. The man handed him a few sheets of paper as he spoke.

"Well, it seems that we managed to get some help from them again, it's such a good thing that we have an ally in such a strong country, right? Make sure to keep it that way… Though I'm not sure if we can do all of those things he says, our people will get angry if we keep on…"

But Feliciano wasn't listening anymore. Politicians were always like this, trying to get something, using even friendship to achieve their goals. On the other hand, the italian recognized this handwriting, and as he read each recommendation, he realized how much Ludwig had worked on this. "You gotta be some kind of magician to turn all those red numbers to black again, uh, Lud?" He smiled at his own thoughts, imagining the funny face his friend would make if he heard that.

He got up, and smiling talked to his boss. "Sir, I think a call to say thank you to our ally is a good idea, right?"

Maybe interrupting him just for a couple of minutes was ok, once in a while.

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**And that's it, I'm still experimenting a bit with my writing, so I might publish a few more random one shots on the next days. But I'll try to make another long story sometime soon! Anyways, thanks for reading!**


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